The cat in black and white
by Mad-Racer
Summary: The Vet. Just hearing the word scares Mittens to death. It reminds her of the day she woke up without her claws. After injuring herself and being forced to go there, the vet orders her to return a week later. But this time, this particular vet will turn her fear into a living nightmare, which leaves the question: Will Bolt be able to save her? Warning, blood and soft BoltXMittens.
1. Chapter 1: For your own good

Bltff project. Sequence one:

**"The cat in black and white"**

*Achievement unlocked: "Newbie" you_ just posted your ever first chapter_.*

**A/N:** Yeah, here we go. I'm on for maybe around three years and this is the first time I'm posting anything.

Also big thanks to **Aninat131**, who showed interest in my writing and who is helping me with correcting lots of things according the grammar and the logic of the plot.

Really big thanks pal!

**I do not own Bolt.**

Remember it, cuz I won't repeat it in every chapter.

And in case you missed it in the description, this story will contain **blood.** So if you don't like it, go away.

Now, let's start with the chapter already.

_The cat in black and white_, chapter one:

**For your own good**

Mittens was injured. Thanks to her incredible luck, she had managed to fall into a pile of rusty metal while exploring the old barn near her new home. A long, slowly bleeding scratch had formed on her left side, stretching from her waist all the way up to her chest.

But that wasn't what troubled her right now.

The moment Penny had seen her, cut and blood and all, she had decided to bring her to the vet, for obvious reasons. And that was, according to Mittens, a terrible idea. Against Penny's wishes, she had escaped before Penny could even come close to her. Right now she was trying to find a good enough place to hide until Penny would give up searching for her.

Normally, she would have run away from the house. But the wound hurt with every move she made and it was slowing her down. Hiding was still the best solution that involved the least pain possible.

Hopefully.

She climbed up the stairs tentatively, doing her best to ignore the pain in her side. She could only think of one good hiding place right now, and that was under Penny's bed. She hid there every time she wanted to be alone and nobody had ever found her there before. She slowly reached the top of the staircase. Making sure nobody was around, she sneaked into Penny's room and slipped under her bed.

She sighed in relief; now she was safe.

"Looking for somebody?"

Shocked, Mittens spun around to see Bolt crouching right behind her.

"Mittens, what's wrong with your side?" he asked worriedly. Even in the shadow of the bed he could see the cut on Mittens' side. He was genuinely concerned. "Does Penny know about it? I think you should go to the vet and get it checked out..."

Mittens began backing away, glaring at Bolt. The wound sent sharp pains through her side every time she moved her left hind leg. She still tried to ignore it.

Bolt slowly moved forward, closing the distance between them once again.

"I'm fine Bolt, I don't need to go anywhere." replied Mittens, trying to sound strong. But the pain found its way into her voice.

"You definitely don't sound 'fine'." Bolt objected, as he continued moving forward, making Mittens retreat further back.

And at the moment she emerged from under the bed, two human arms grabbed her and lifted her into air.

"Gotcha!" exclaimed Penny.

Mittens yelled both in surprise and pain. Realizing she was being carried, she started flailing and kicking in Penny's arms in panic. A flailing paw struck Penny right on her nose, making her hands automatically shoot up to her face, allowing Mittens to drop to the ground and flee.

* * *

The whole family was searching through the whole house now. They tried to look in other likely spots that she might have been in, but to no avail. In the end, it was the fat hamster that did it.

"Bolt! I've found our fugitive!" called Rhino from the garden.

Bolt, following Rhino's voice, soon stood by his side. He pointed up at the roof. Mittens was sitting on it, holding a paw to her side. Her expression didn't look pleased at all.

"How did she get up there?" asked Bolt, wondering how the clawless, injured cat managed to climb up all the way to the top of the house by herself.

"I have no idea, Bolt." said Rhino, "But her injury seems to be more serious than earlier. She needs immediate medical attention."

Back on the roof, Mittens began to realize that something was not right. The burning pain was getting more intense and was beginning to spread into her chest. She clutched her injured side with her right paw, as if it could cease the pain. She winced.

_Why won't you stop hurting?_ She thought to herself.

Suddenly she heard Bolt yelling from below: "Mittens get down from there, it's for your own good!"

She shook her head. No, even though it hurt, she was not going down.

"No Bolt, I rather bleed to death than go to that place again!" she screamed.

Not a second later a tip of a wooden ladder hit the edge of the roof. Somebody was trying to get to her.

Said cat looked around. There was nowhere to run, unless she wanted to commit suicide. She could hear Penny climbing the ladder. She must have been at least halfway up. Mittens was starting to panic.

"Come on, Mittens, we've been through this already. They're going to help you!" called Bolt once again.

Mittens, desperate now, screamed: "No! They're not!" and as fast as her wound allowed her, she ran straight into the ladder.

To both Penny and Mittens' surprise, the force of impact was enough for the ladder to tip over and to start falling towards the ground, taking both of them with it.

Penny didn't hesitate, jumped off the ladder and rolled away, before it could fall on her. Years of on-set training had paid off, it seemed.

Mittens, on the other side, wasn't so lucky. The old wooden ladder slammed into the ground with her at full force. The impact also broke the ladder into several pieces, sending a shower of splinters at the poor cat.

Bolt, seeing the ladder fall, quickly ran towards it. He could see Penny standing up, apparently fine. But Mittens' body was lying on the ground, unmoving.

"Mittens? Mittens! Do you hear me!?" he called out frantically. Now it was his turn to freak out; his heart skipped few beats as he approached Mittens.

He came to stop right next to her. Her whole left side was stained a bright red. The wound had now been torn wide open, and blood was now starting to flow out freely. Bolt's stomach made a backflip at the sight. He had never seen anyone so seriously injured in his life. If not for his immense worry for Mittens, he probably would have fainted right there and then.

Surprisingly, she was awake.

"Urrgh, Bolt. I said I'm f- Argh - fine." groaned Mittens, trying to stand up, unsuccessfully.

Bolt wanted to respond, but Penny already grabbed Mittens and ran around the house with her, calling: "Mom, start the car!"

Mittens was, despite the blood loss, still conscious enough, to begin to panic again. She pushed her paws against Penny's chest in attempt to free herself, screaming: "Wait! No, no, no, no, no! Lemmego! Lemmego!"

"Calm down, girl. You're only hurting yourself more!" said Penny, tightening her grip on Mittens, trying her best not to not push on the wound. Mittens' blood had started dripping down her arm and onto her shirt.

They were nearing the car now. The blue van had been already started and was ready to go.

Mittens was still struggling, but her strength was leaving her quickly. Her field of view began to narrow. She started to realize, she was going to lose. That she would have to see the man who so much reminded her of the one, the one who took her claws away.

Suddenly she caught a glimpse of Bolt. In a last desperate move, she outstretched her arm in his direction and cried: "Bolt! Please... help!"

Then there was only black.

* * *

Penny sat nervously on a plastic chair in the vet's office, slowly stroking Mittens' still unconscious head. The cat was lying on her lap, breathing slowly, but thankfully stably. Most of Mittens' body was completely wrapped in bandages.

Next to Penny was another chair, where her mom was sitting. She smiled at her daughter reassuringly. In front of them stood a big desk, and the vet himself was sitting behind it, reading some official-looking documents.

"So, the wound has been disinfected, sewed and bandaged up." The vet put the papers away, revealing his long, and rather bored face. "Mittens should wake up soon, make sure she doesn't run around much, because the last thing you want is to let her tear the stitches and reopen the wound. I suggest you not let her out of the house."

Both Penny and her mom nodded.

"Okay. And how long will she have to wear the bandages?" asked Penny.

The doctor didn't have time to reply, because the cell phone on his table began ringing.

He lifted a hand, sending a 'one moment, please' gesture towards Penny and answered the phone.

"Dr. Kristen Walsh," he introduced himself, "The veterinary office of...Yes?... Ah, that's nice to hear. And how about the others? Yeah…That's good, that's good. So we got all three then."

As he continued talking, he stood up from the desk and began slowly walking towards his office's door. Penny watched him, while still keeping a firm hand on Mittens.

"Yes, I've found one as well. ... You definitely gonna like her. She matches the 'third priority'. ... So when will it happen? ... Excellent! I'll bring her there then. ... Goodbye!"

He hung up the phone almost at the same time he reached the door. He seemed to be in much better mood after the call. Opening the door, he turned back to Penny and her mother.

"Here we go. Don't get me wrong, but I have some important work to do, and I need you to leave now. Oh, and as for the bandages, I don't know. Maybe you should come back next week, so I will see how the injury is healing." he instructed.

He gestured outside once more, as Penny—carrying the still unconscious Mittens—along with her mother, walked out, exchanging odd glances with each other.

"See you again soon. I hope Mittens will feel much better by then." he chuckled and slammed the door.

"Now, that was weird," Penny whispered. "I don't really like this new vet."

"But he helped Mittens, didn't he?" said her mom.

"Yeah, but... I think something's just not right about him." Penny muttered as they left.

Back in the office, Dr. Walsh sat back behind his desk and picked up one of the documents he had been reading earlier.

On the paper there were printed photos of three different, yet similar cats. Each of them had a name of the cat's owner and address written next to it.

One of the cats was Mittens.

* * *

This is the end of Chapter 1.

Let me know what you think by reviewing!


	2. Chapter 2: Just bad dreams

A/N: Ok, first of all, thanks to all of you guys who reviewed. I'm making sure I read all the reviews and I'm glad they're positive.

I've also got a review saying some characters look bit ooc. I'm sorry for that and I promise I will try to improve.

Now let's move on,

_The cat in black and white,_ chapter 2:

**Just bad dreams**

Mittens woke up on Penny's bed. It was apparently night time, seeing as darkness enveloped the whole room. Only a faint beam on moonlight shone through the window.

But she quickly realized something was wrong. The room was empty. Bolt, Rhino and Penny were nowhere to be seen.

She tried to stand up, only to find out she couldn't. There was something holding her hind legs together and holding her front legs to her chest.

She was tied with bandages.

'What the heck is going on!?' thought Mittens, struggling in her confines, but with no success.

She kept struggling for another ten seconds, but froze as soon as her ears picked up a weird crackling sound. It sounded oddly familiar, like something she'd heard recently. She listened to it for a while, trying to figure out where it was coming from.

And then it hit her.

A fire.

She didn't want to believe it at first, but as the crackling sounds of rapidly growing flames grew louder and louder, she could feel the unmistakable heat of flames washing over her body. The scariest part was that she couldn't see the flames…yet.

As she helplessly lay on Penny's bed, she could only watch as the faint rays of moonlight were beaten in intensity by a bright orange glow that slowly illuminated the entire room. She still couldn't see the flames, and she deduced that they were behind her. Where the door was. Where the stairs were.

_The house! The whole house is on fire!_

Mittens' heart pounded wildly in her chest.

She began fighting against the bandages again.

"Hey! Is anybody here? Help!" she called out. But no response came.

'_Where are they?_' she thought. '_Did anything happen to them? Why did they leave me here?_'

A dark thought flashed through her mind: Did her new owners abandon her as well?

The thought felt like a rock in her stomach. Fortunately, the feeling didn't last very long. Unfortunately, that was because the flames were now outside, brushing themselves against the window.

Its wooden frame almost instantly caught fire, and started spreading throughout the room.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening!" Mittens said frantically. But the more she fought the bandages, the tighter they bound her body.

Half of the furniture was now on fire. The room itself was beginning to fill with smoke and the air was so hot that it was becoming almost impossible to breathe.

Mittens' lungs burned, but she still managed to scream: "Bolt! Rhino! ANYBODY HELP ME! Please!"

She was quickly losing hope. She had no idea how she had gotten into this, but she knew she needed a miracle to get her out. And she honestly didn't believe in miracles.

_Where did everybody go? Why am I tied up? Who would have done this? _She thought, a sickening feeling welling in her stomach. It had only been a month since she had been taken into Bolt's family, and now she was going to die, tied up, without anybody knowing where she was. Would they ever find her body?

She forced the grim thought aside, knowing it wasn't going to help. She needed to believe. She never believed, but right now, there wasn't any other way. She needed to hope for a miracle.

Minutes passed. Still no one came to rescue her. The searing heat had distorted her vision, and she couldn't take more than a few ragged breaths through the suffocating smoke. Her hope was disappearing, like the house around her, consumed in the flames.

But at the point where she had given up all hope and resigned her fate to the world, something happened. The door suddenly blew open. A single man ran inside. He was dressed in the classic protection suit of a firefighter.

"Oh, looks we forgot someone. Better get you out before this place falls apart," he said as soon as he spotted Mittens, surprisingly calmly.

Mittens stared in disbelief. For a moment she thought she was seeing things, but the man walked over to her, and she knew he was really there. Relief washed over her, but it was short lived.

"Thank god, I already thought I gonna…Wait…w-what are you doing?"

To her shock, the fire-fighter took off his helmet as he stood in front of her, completely ignoring the fire. He had a long, pale face, with short black hair, wearing small rectangular glasses. He did not look completely sane.

A small metallic tag on his uniform said: 'Dr. Walsh'.

_W-What?_

He grinned evilly as he reached to his side, grabbing his axe and lifting it high in the air, right above Mittens.

_No…No, this can't be happening!_

Her pulse spiked again upon seeing the dangerous weapon. She tried to struggle, but once again it was useless. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't move, and the man, the man whom she hated was now going to not just be her tormentor, but her executioner.

She couldn't even scream. She could only watch as the firefighter that looked exactly like her vet twirled his weapon around before gripping it tightly.

"Don't worry, Mittens. I will _help_ you, heheheh…_**Ahahahaha**_!" he laughed insanely.

Then he swung the axe.

* * *

Mittens jumped as she awoke from her nightmare. She could hear her own heart hammering in her chest, and her breath was labored. Standing on all fours, she quickly scanned the room with her eyes, searching for any hint of the man's presence.

Silence.

The room seemed to be completely normal, as it was before. Everybody was still there, sleeping on Penny's bed: Bolt, Rhino, and of course, Penny.

Mittens sat down again, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. She soon realized there really were bandages wrapped around her, but they covered only her wound and they weren't binding her down.

_It…was just a dream…_

She let out a sigh, "Why it has to be always me!?" she said to herself, hoping she didn't wake up anyone else.

Throwing a glance at the clock beside Penny's bed, she saw it was 4:18 am. There was no way she could fall asleep now.

Moonlight passed through the window, illuminating a rectangular patch on the bed. Mittens moved into that patch and sat down again, letting her eyes rest on the moon momentarily. She closed them after a while, allowing her fur to absorb the light. It wasn't anywhere nearly as nice as sunbathing, but it was enough.

Suddenly she felt something. Somebody was approaching her from behind, and she knew who it was. A weak smile appeared on her lips.

"Hello, Wags. Did I wake you up?" she asked.

"Almost," said Bolt as he yawned, then added: "But I'm glad to see _you_ areawake."

He walked up to her and sat close to her left side, a little bit too close for Mittens. She felt his fur brushing against her bandaged side slightly, but it didn't hurt; in fact, his body was actually warming her up. And she wasn't sure if she was supposed to enjoy it or pull herself away. Bolt was probably too tired to notice her awkwardness, though.

In the end, Mittens decided to just not move an inch and continued to 'moonbathe' with her eyes closed.

"I heard some screams, though. Are you alright?" asked Bolt, his voice filled with concern.

Mittens opened her eyes, but didn't look at Bolt.

"It was just a bad dream. I'm fine now, don't worry."

"Are you sure?" Bolt asked, skeptical. "You were out for quite a long time…"

Mittens closed her eyes and shook her head.

"You worry too much, Bolt. Everybody has nightmares sometimes."

"I know, but I think you'll feel better if you share them with someone," Bolt said in response.

Mittens didn't feel like telling her dreams to Bolt. Or anybody else, for that matter.

"Just go get some more sleep, Wags. I've had many nightmares, I know how to deal with them," she said, closing her eyes.

But even with her eyes closed, she could still feel his eyes on her. She knew Bolt was still worried about her, and knowing the dog, he wasn't going to give up until he found out what it was.

She sighed, opening her eyes again…and nearly jumped in shock. Bolt was crouched to her level and his face was now less than inch from hers. His beautiful brown eyes completely filled Mittens' field of view.

_Wait…did I just say 'beautiful'?_

"But that's it, Mittens. I don't want you to have any nightmares," he said softly, "I want only the best for you. Really, I do. But I can't help if you don't tell me what's wrong."

He pulled back from Mittens' face and sat back down in front of her, waiting for her response.

"Bolt, I-I..." she tried to think of something to say, but she saw his pleading face—it might as well have been the dog face—and she couldn't think of anything.

"Okay, Wags, okay. I'll tell you what the dream was about, but could you…just come back here, please?" she said, motioning to the now empty place at her left side.

She would never have admitted it to anybody, but she missed the warmth Bolt's body had provided.

Bolt gave her a surprised look, but sat back by her side again.

Mittens started talking. She narrated the dream to Bolt. She told him about the bandages, the fire, the helplessness she felt, and the crazy vet-fire-fighter that ended her life.

Bolt listened carefully, stopping her only once while she was describing the doctor's appearance.

"I thought you were out the whole time. How do you know what he looks like?" he asked curiously.

"I've seen him. I woke up few minutes before the operation, and I had just enough time to see his face and name before they actually put me to sleep."

She shook her head.

"Anyway, after he came in, he took his axe and t-threw it into my face," she finished, shivering slightly as the dream replayed that horrific moment in her head.

"Wow, that sounds terrible," Bolt said quietly. "How do you have nightmares like this?" he asked.

"Basically every time I visit the vet," Mittens answered, sounding a bit frustrated.

Mittens was finally starting to open up to Bolt, and he used the opportunity to ask: "When did it start? Why does the vet scare you so much? I know, you were declawed, but…weren't you asleep through it? Did it hurt a lot?"

Mittens could see the sincere concern in Bolt's eyes.

There was a brief silence in the room as the two of them just looked at each other.

'_He wants to help you Mittens. You should give him a chance,_' she thought.

She looked down, down to where her paws were, and let out a sad sigh.

"The vet…The one I used to know was a very nice person. He always helped me, always smiled at me…I trusted him." She said, "Then one day...one day I was told I needed to get checked. I was happy to see him again, because I liked him."

Her voice was beginning to shake. "But then... he... he just put me asleep...and w-when I woke up…my paws…_my claws._.."

Her voice broke down. She closed her eyes in pain, trying not to let it take over, but the first tears had already begun rolling down her cheeks.

A feeling of guilt washed over Bolt as he watched the small cat cry silently.

He wrapped his paw around her back and pulled her close to his side. Mittens didn't try to resist. Bolt's fur felt soft and warm, and the feeling comforted her.

"Please Mittens, don't cry," said Bolt softly, almost in whisper.

And surprisingly, it had an effect; Mittens' sobs slowly stopped.

She stayed in Bolt's arms for few more seconds before actually saying:

"Bolt?"

"Yeah?"

"First of all: Why are we hugging each other?"

Bolt's face turned bright red. He let Mittens go. She pulled away, but still stayed close.

"Sorry, I just wanted…" he started, but was interrupted.

"Yeah, thanks, but…Let's pretend this didn't happen. Okay?" said Mittens, apparently blushing as well, though it wasn't so visible through her black fur.

Bolt nodded. "I'm fine with it."

He watched Mittens wiping some the last tears from her face, still looking rather upset.

He gave a rather frustrated sigh.

"I'm sorry Mittens, I shouldn't have asked." he said, as if angry at himself.

"It's okay, Wags. I'm actually glad I've got this one out," she said, giving Bolt a weak smile.

"But... there is one more bad dream I should share with you, I guess. Since we're already talking about dreams…" she said hesitantly.

"I'm listening." Bolt nodded, inviting her to continue.

"I had this one shortly after I moved here. Remember when Penny went with her mom back to Hollywood to visit some of the people there when you were quitting the show?" she started.

Bolt nodded.

"They took you with them, so me and Rhino were alone in the house. He went off watching TV and I fell asleep..."

* * *

The studio was on fire. Heavy black smoke poured through the windows. Firefighters were unsuccessfully trying to get the fire under control and to calm down panicking people.

People ran about screaming, some in sheer panic, others calling out for their loved ones. It was chaos.

But all of it was a distant hum for Mittens, as she watched the building burn. The building Bolt was in.

She and Rhino watched it with bated breath, never taking their eyes off it. Bolt was in there way too long and they were beginning to fear the worst.

Suddenly a single sound cut through the noise of the crowd: a bark.

One of the fire-fighters called for silence.

A spark of hope flashed in Mittens' heart. It was him, she was sure it was him and he was alive.

_'Come on, Bolt. Just one more time!'_ Mittens pleaded.

The silence grew longer. It lasted for ten seconds... fifteen seconds...it seemed like an eternity to Mittens.

But the bark never came. The firefighter just shook his head slowly and continued the evacuation.

Mittens just sat there, watching the building burn, not believing her eyes.

* * *

"...and then I just woke up." finished Mittens.

Bolt looked slightly shocked. "So, you were so worried about me, that you dreamt about my death?"

Mittens rolled her eyes, but smiled. It was her first real smile in few days.

"Of course, because my favourite superdog was running around studios, instead of protecting me," she said jokingly. Her sarcasm felt a little forced to her, but Bolt didn't seem to feel so. He returned her smile.

"So are you feeling better now?" he asked.

"Yeah, I do. It seems you were right, Wags."

"How's your wound feeling?" he asked, remembering about it when he looked at her bandages.

Mittens had completely forgotten about the wound by that point.

"Wound? What w…oh. Ah, it's fine. It hurts only when I breathe." she stated flatly.

"Okay, _now_ you're fine." Bolt chuckled, seeing that Mittens' sense of humor was back.

"Yeah, thanks a lot, Bolt."

"Anytime, Mittens. I'll be here anytime you need me." Bolt smiled.

Mittens lied back down, letting the moonlight shine onto her back.

"Well, I just hope I won't have to see vet in a _long time_."

Bolt's eyes widened as he heard the sentence.

"Uh…Mittens? How long do you consider a week?" he asked.

According to Mittens' sudden expression; not much.

* * *

The end of second chapter!

Again, reviews are appreciated!


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